‘WEDDING PLANNER” GETS THE JOB DONE; JENNIFER LOPEZ TURNS OUT TO BE A NATURAL FOR THE TITLE ROLE IN THIS COMEDY WITH MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY STARRING AS HER CLIENT’S FIANCE
When a woman becomes a bride-to-be, strange things happen. Her perception of color becomes skewed, with an emphasis on shades of peach and teal. She experiences an increased sensitivity to noise and opposing opinions, and can only be soothed by saccharine tunes like “I Honestly Love You” and “A Groovy…
“BEFORE NIGHT FALLS” CATCHES PASSION OF POET ARENAS’ LIFE
Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” comes to the Bay Area dragging behind it a string of awards like jangling tin cups after a matrimonial car. These accolades are posthumous for Reinaldo Arenas, the gay Cuban poet and novelist and the brilliant subject upon whom Schnabel’s sophomore film is based. In…
BULLOCK’S CHARM SAVES TWO-FACED “CONGENIALITY”
Deep breath, girls, and smile. Come, my dears, buck up. After all, apres a grueling shopping day, all we want to do is to put aside our lists, sink down with a box of Whoppers and shut down the neurons for some mindless escapism. Why not let the prattling, lip-gloss…
MEL’S “WHAT WOMEN WANT”; SKIP THE TRAILERS AND SEE THE FLICK, WHICH SHOWS, AMONG OTHER THINGS, THAT AT LEAST ONE TOUGH GUY DOES DANCE
If our cynical, wisecracking age can withstand it, “What Women Want” is one of the best arguments for the return of the musical. Mel Gibson’s newest comic venture is straight out of pre-1965 Hollywood cinema. As Nick Marshall, the grown-up son of a Las Vegas showgirl (or showwoman, as the…
THIS ATYPICAL DISNEY FILM A FAMILY TREAT
Family movies seem awfully scarce at theaters this holiday season, much less family holiday movies. Little wonder the “Grinch” has dominated the box office for the last few weeks and cleared up the karmic slush left behind two years back by “Jack Frost.” Now Disney has tossed “The Emperor’s New…
MEMO TO FILMMAKERS: JOIN US IN 21ST CENTURY
WHEN WAS YOUR personal-technology film/TV epiphany moment? (I really want to know. Read to the end of the column on how to contribute.) I finally got around to watching “Fight Club” recently. You might remember that one, with Brad Pitt and Edward Norton as young men feeling disenfranchised by commercialism….
CASTING VOTES; PROPOSAL FOR AN ELECTION 2000 MOVIE
We knew this was coming. We knew the minute we woke up Nov. 9 to screaming headlines like Recount in Florida and NO CLEAR WINNER that the 2000 presidential election would eventually become a movie. And, we hazard to guess, a truly awful one. Of course, that won’t stop us…
MEET THE PARENTS; * WE TAKE THE ‘GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER’ THEME, DRAG IT INTO THE 2000S AND ADD A FEW MORE ‘OTHER’ CATEGORIES
Matthew Stanley of San Francisco still gets teased by his seven brothers and sisters for the boyfriend he brought home one Thanksgiving. The eldest son had been out for a number of years, so the fact that he was gay wasn’t the issue. “What threw my family for a loop…
METAMORPHOSING GRINCH TO BIG SCREEN PROVES NO CINCH
Who could rain displeasure on a Christmas tale that tries to be sincere, yet still seems to fail? Why, a Grinch, that’s Who, and that would be me, to tell you there’s too much shtick from Jim Carrey. The costumes astound, the sight gags abound, but the heart, oh the…
PLAYING DUMB COULD MEAN TROUBLE IN THE NEXT ELECTION
CONGRATULATIONS on a deception well-executed. The votes are in (and were still being counted at press time) and we can now shed our masks of indecision. Vengeance is ours for all those times the Three Ps (pollsters, politicians and pundits) decided the outcome before election day, declared winners before the…